The Story Behind #MakeItSocial
In March 2018, the UK Government published “Culture is Digital”, a report which recognised the ever-changing landscape of digital culture and its potential to reach new audiences and unlock opportunities. This landmark recognition from government that those who are yet to adopt digital into their arsenal are missing a key piece to the puzzle, prompted us to think about the guides that we’ve written over the last six years — how much has our advice changed?
The truth is, whilst technology is always improving and social media algorithms are always changing, our core advice for our charity and social sector clients has always been the same: no matter what level you’re at, social media can be immensely positive for your organisation if you invest your (probably limited) time wisely. The £2.7bn charity donations made online in 2017 in the UK alone should be more than enough to convince you of this.[1]
For those who are new to the social media game though — or even just those in need of a refresher — Social Misfits Media, our sister company Lightful and our friends at the Institute of Fundraising have come together to build our most comprehensive guide yet, #MakeItSocial. This guide is the culmination of the best tips from all of our guides, plus some new case studies and up-to-date advice that will help you see the method for social media success.
We have broken our guide down into the three key sections that should be the building blocks of your social media game plan: Community, Engagement and Solicitation. You’ll notice we say ‘building blocks’ because without creating your community and engaging with them, you can’t expect to ask them to do anything on your behalf, whether that be donating, volunteering or advocating for your cause. You may well be ready to “make the ask” but are your audiences ready to answer?
So, each section of the guide will provide: the structure and the inspiration to make your social media deliver better results; a case study to see how some amazing organisations are doing it in practice; and — because we know you’re short on time — a checklist ready to be stuck on your office wall for the whole team to get familiar with.
In the Community section, you’ll learn how to:
· Set social media goals that will help achieve targets across your organisation and then how to measure them.
· Be strategic about which platforms will perform best for your organisation and how to find your tribe.
· Build personas, test paid boosting and more.
Rebecca Sterry, Senior Communications Manager at Autistica, shares with us the importance of understanding your audiences: “We’ve done a lot of consultation with our community about content on social media, and we know what issues are the most important to them. We defined a top ten list of priorities, and all of the content we share fits with that.”
In the Engagement section, we’ll be talking about how you can:
· Move away from bulletin-board style feeds, by creating imaginative and effective content, including a deep-dive into pocket-friendly podcasts and user-generated content.
· Get more from social by making your whole organisation confident in contributing to both internal channels and their own.
· Develop your own personality through tone-of-voice and get comfortable engaging your followers with questions and conversation.
Gemma Collins-Ellis, Communications Manager at Bliss, lets us know how they approach co-creating content with their audiences: “Almost anything contributed by the community, especially emotional content works well. Things that combine multiple opinions, like lists of tips, work well because they’re considered peer-to-peer information. As an organisation we don’t give advice — we give information, so doing it through our community is a good way of catering for that need.”
In the Solicitation section, we’ll break down how to:
· Get your audience ready for “the ask” by showcasing the impact of your work and timing it right.
· Figure out the optimal way to ask your varying audiences via user journey- and A/B-testing.
· Say thank you, keep the relationship alive and be transparent about where their help went.
Tufail Hussain, Interim UK Director at Islamic Relief, also has advice for those questioning how to harness the power of social, “Don’t be scared of asking questions on social media! I see a lot of charitable organisations that don’t seem to ask effectively on social media. The right video, coupled with the right ask, can raise awareness and a lot of funds. Using Facebook for donations is an amazing opportunity.”
By the time you finish reading our guide, we hope you’ll understand that success on social media is not just about money; it’s about understanding the value, having clear goals, measuring them, and more so than anything — dedicating the time and energy to do it.
We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Download the #MakeItSocial guide for free here.
[1] https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf-uk-giving-2018-report.pdf
